Insulator cutter and method of treating insulators



June 2, 1931. M. F. H. GOUVERNEUR I 1,

INSULA TOR CUTTER AND METHOD OF TREATING INSULATORS Filed Jan. 7, 1927 Patented June 2, 1931 UNITED STATES PATE NT OFFICE mon r. H. eouvnannun, or BALTIMORE," MARYLAND, AssIGNon'ro rooxn mso- I LATOR CORPORATION, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A GORPORATION or MARYLAND INSULATOR ou'rrnn AND ivrn'rnon, or TREATING INsunA'roRs Application filed January 7, 1927. Serial No. 159,630.,

' '-The invention relates to devices-for WOIK- ing upon insulators, particularly those of the Hewlett type and has for its principal obJect the provision of a device for scooping out or cutting a small portion of the porcelain at the places where it is intended to cut the curved passages provided for the reception of suspension links.

It is well known that insulators of the Hewlett type consist of dielectric bodies having curved interlinking passages therein for the reception of suspension links which are adapted to be connected in series with correspondinglink-s of an adjacent unit for forming a string or chain. The-passages must be formed in theinsulator' unit while it is in a plastic or green state and the passages themselves may be formed in various ways as for instance as disclosed in my Patent 'No. 1,413,-

028 dated April 18th, 1922, or No. 1,697,422

dated January 1, 1929, or No. 1,697,428 dated January 1,1929, or by a mechanical device such as thatforming the subject matter of Patents Nos. 1,697,434 or 1,697 ,435 granted 35 January 1, 1929 to Stewart L. Moore. As a matter of fact, it is immaterial to the present invention how the curved passages them: selves are cut. Sufiice it to say that when a cutting machine is used, when the cutters engage the insulator the clay is crowded and caused to bulge upwardly beyond the topsurface of the insulator. Naturally, this result is objectionable as subsequent trimming by hand work is required.

It is with the above facts in view that I have designed the present invention which has for an important object the provision of a simple device by means of which the top of the insulator may be scooped out at the areas where the ends of cutting tools, such as disclosed by Moore, will enter-the clay, or at the areas where-a tool such as those disclosed in my above mentioned patent and co-pending applications will enter and emerge, the scooping away of the material at these points compensating for the upward crowding or bulging so that notwithstanding such a condition the material will not project above the surface of the major portion of the top of the;

o insulator.

vide a method of treating aninsulator of the Hewlett type preparatory or preliminary to the cutting of curved interlinking passages therein so that the bulge resulting from crowding out of the material by the passage of a cutter therethrough will not project be; yond the surface. i p

Another object of the; invention is to provide a device for this purpose so constructed and arranged thatit may be'simply set upon the insulator to be cut without it being neces sary to employ any elaborat frame or hold-- ing means, the device being so arranged as to be self-centering when'placed upon the top of the insulator. 1 Another object'of the invention is to pro-' vide a cutter of this character embodying a relatively stationary supporting structure and a relatively movable knife'or cutter de tachably mounted and of such form that when operated it will produce a substantially spoon shaped concavity, further ob'ect of the invention is to provide cutting means of this character which can also be used,-if desired, for similarly cutting the underside of the insulator, of course in inverted position, at points 90 from the corresponding points or areas at the top surface, it being, however, conceivable that the. concavities atthe underside may be readily formed by employing projections in the-bottom of the mold in which the insulator is: initially shaped so that'the scooping will be required only at the top surface.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cutter ofthis character which may be construct'ed'to scoop the top of the insu lator at one side, subsequently to which'ii't 7 ment in the art.

With the above and other objects and advantages in View, the invention preferably consists in the arrangement and combination of parts and detail-ed structural features to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in'the accompanying drawings .in which: r

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view through an insulator showing the device in position upon the top thereof with the cuttingtool at practically the beginning of its stroke, the curved passage \to be subsequently out being illustrated by dot and dashlines and the remainder of the path of the movable cutter being illustrated by heavy dotted lines,

I Figure=2 a fragmentaryiplan View with thecutting toolremoved, r a 4 @Figure .3 is a fragmentary edge elevation of the supporting portion of the device-with the tool removed, a V

Figure 4: is a detail elevation of the tool alone, and r Figure 5 is a a :means for forming the .concavities :in the undersurface. r

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates an insulator unit .of the Hewlett type within which-are :to be cut curved interlinkingr passages for the reception ofthe usual suspension links, not shown. The passages to be cutare indicated at 2 and 3'by dotand dashiilines, The passage 2 is oficourse to :be cut from the top of the insulator whe'reasthe passage 8 is formed from the-underside thereof. The exact-cross sectional shape of the insulator may of'c'ourse be varied and that disclosed in the drawings a of the insulator at the inner periphery of is simply for purposes o-f-illustration;

I Incarrying-out the invention, use ismade of-a suitable supporting block 4 which may of course be themold within which the insu:

lator itself is formed and1this block has a Curved upper surface 5 c-onformingly engag ing-againstthe undersurface of the insulator. It should beiundersto'od :that this block need not be the mold 'as itcan be a separateelement entir'ely upon which thegreen insulator is ;set, .there being no restrictions'in this respect, the only requisite being that some adequate means Tbe providedfor supporting the insulator and :preventing it from becoming distorted while. worked upon by the cutter; I'In some varieties :ofinsulators of this :type .there is provided a channelor groove 6 spaced slightly iinwardly fromthe edge and-I preferably take advantage of this factjby providing a supporting'ringf7 or. the

like so shaped as to fit substantially within thisgroove, Theengagement of this ring member within the groove orechannel will act to center .the ring without the employment .of any-auxiliary or extraneous means for the purposethough of'course any equivalent-gme'ans may be provided 'rforgretaining this supporting ring at the desireddocation fragmentary-section showing extendingtrunnions 12 which might --ofcourse -be perinanently pivotally connected with or mounted .upontheuprightsupports or brackets '8 but which are preferably engaged within notches 13 therein so that the cutter itself may be detach-ed readily in case the occasion should -arise. Obviously, one pair --of-=uprights only may :be; provided if preferred though it is probably better that 7 two sets'be used locatedat diametrically opposite points on the supporting ring member 7 -as disclosed in Figurel, the cutter9 being engageable upon either set or pair.

In the operation, let it be assumedthatthe insulator is resting upon the supp ortingimemher 4 or in a mold as the case may be. "The operator lays the ring member '7 upon the top ofi-theinsulator, engages .thetrunnions 12 of the cutter within ithfl {notches -18 of the pair of uprights with-thecutter iin such ;position thatithe blade 11 is'above vtheinsulator, and then swings the cutter. downwardlyas illustrated by the :arrow in Figure 4. The blade 11 will then engage the insulator and; scoop out .a :portion of :the material, the path of movement ofthe blade ibeing indicated-by the heavy dotted line 14. [In order that the blade may it pass :clear through the material the ring without interference, it is preferable that .thering be notched at 15 as illustrated most clearly -.in"Figure 2. The shapemnd length of5the cutter-and the'relation thereof to the supporting ring are such that this scooped out concavity will be atthat area :of the insulator at .one end of the curved passage 2. .If the member {Fa-is provided with two tire ring member must be shifted so :as to bring the brackets atsucih a position that the secondmade cut will be diametrically lop posite the first. V

If desired,the insulator may'beturnedover. and the other side treated in the same man ner, :it being clear that theentire device would then need to be-operated -in;a position at 90: from that iniwhich-it was placed when operating-on the topXof the insulator for the reason that the ends of the curved passages are arranged 90 apart. However, it is readily conceivable that concavities may be formed in the underside of the insulator at the proper points simply by providing projections 16 in the mold. After the top and bottom of the insulator have been formed with the concavities, it is ready to have the curved passages 2 and 3 cut by any of the methods or devices above referred to and in actual practice I have discovered that the scooped out places or concavities will permit the crowding or bulging of the clay at the ends of the passages without the material being forced up beyond the top surface of the in sulator. Any subsequent trimming is thus rendered unnecessary.

If it should be so desired, it is-appaient that the device can be used in a different manner. It is clear that the curved interlinking passages might be formed first, subsequently to which my cutting mechanism may be employed for removing any material crowded or bulged upwardly by the passage of the cutting tools through the clay. WVhile this is not the preferred method it is mentioned as a possibility.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawings it will be apparent that I have thus provided a simply constructed, inexpensive and easily applied and used tool for the purpose specified and one which will effect a considerable saving in time and labor. It is believed that the construction, operation and advantages will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art without further eX- planation.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that the disclosure is merely an exemplification of the principles involved as the right is reserved to make all such changes in the details of construction as will widen the field of utility and increase the adaptability of the device provided such changes constitute no departure from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a supporting member adapted to be mounted upon the top of an insulator, bracket members on said support, and a cutter pivotally mounted on said bracket members and having a substantially U- shaped blade adapted to cut through the material of the insulator along an arcuate path for scooping out the material at one side at a. relatively small area.

2. A device of the character described comprising a supporting ring member adapted to be engaged upon the top of an insulator of the Hewlett type, a pair of supporting brackets on said ring member, and a cutter detachably pivotally engaged upon the brackets and having a curved blade movable in an arcuate path for scooping out a shallow I concavity at the top of the insulator.

3. A device of the character described comprising a ring member adapted to be engaged upon the top ofan insulator of the Hewlett type, pairs of fulcrum brackets mounted on said ring member at diametrically opposite points, and a cutter detachably pivotally engageable upon a selected pair of brackets and having a curved blade movable in an arcuate path intersecting the surface of the insulator for scooping out a portion of the material thereof.

4. A device of the character described com prising a ring member adapted to be engaged upon the top of an insulator of the Hewlett type, pairs of fulcrum brackets mounted on said ring member at diametricallyopposite points, and a cutter detachably pivotally engageable upon a selected pair of brackets and having a curved blade movable in an arcuate path intersecting the surface of the insulator for scooping out a portion of the material thereof, the supporting brackets having notches therein and the cutter having trunnions engageable within said notches.

5. The method of making an insulator of the Hewlett type, comprising scooping out a portion of the material of the insulator at one side thereof, and forming curved interlinking passages through the material with the ends of the passages at said scoopedout areas.

6. The method of treating an insulator of the Hewlett type comprising forming curved interlinking passages therethrough and scooping out a portion of the material of the insulator at the ends of the passages.

. 7 The method of treating an insulator of the Hewlett type comprising forming curved interlinking passages therethrough and scooping out a portion of the material of the insulator at the ends of the passages before or after the formation of the passages.

8. The method of making an insulator of the Hewlett type to be provided with interlinking curved passages opening out at opposite sides, comprising molding the insulator with depressions in one side at the areas where the ends of one passage are to be located, and scooping out a portion of the material on the surface at the opposite side at the areas where the ends of the other passage 

